The VMAs were Sunday, and at the end of it, Miley announced her new album was available. Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz is a free album of collaborations primarily with the Flaming Lips, but Oren Yoel, Mike WiLL Made-It and her dad Billy Ray make appearances too. The album is as sprawling and weird as the Flaming Lips connection would suggest, but there are definite gems. One such gem is Miley’s ode to lesbianism, Bang Me Box, one of the Mike WiLL Made-It collaborations, a hooky pop number with a less than subtle lyric.

If you like this cut, the entire album’s worth checking out… after all, it’s free, right?

One person who’s unlikely to check out Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz is Nicki Minaj, who’s been feuding with Miley. Her shade-throwing moment at the VMAs went viral, but very few media outlets spent much time on the source of Nicki’s complaints. But ultimately, Nicki’s got a point; when talking about racism in the music industry, Miley didn’t respond to the claims, but instead chose to tone-police, saying Nicki “wasn’t very polite” and Nicki made it “just about [herself]”. Regardless of whether or not Nicki’s polite, we should owe it to look at the arguments rather than the manner in which they’re delivered. Kanye’s had that same trouble — or have we forgotten when he said that George W. Bush doesn’t care about black people and how instead of sparking debate became a punchline?

Who says record stores are dead? A new one’s just opened up in the UK — the twist? The store, known as the White Noise Boutique only sell vinyl featuring white noise. Anyone who just wants a white noise record can buy a readymade album, but for the true connoisseur will obviously pass those over for the cut-on-demand records featuring custom-generated white noise from a variety of sources. Might I recommend the Type 1390-B tube-powered noise generator? And, of course, for those looking to cut the number of physical objects they have in their lives, digital-only files are also available.

Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes has had a busy year; the Shakes’ album Sound & Color has been a critical darling, she got to play with Sir Paul McCartney at Lollapalooza, and now she drops the news that not only does she have a side project, but they’ve got a new album, too. Thunderbitch, featuring Howard backed up by members of Fly Golden Eagle and Clear Plastic Masks, put out their self-titled debut this week, available via iTunes and streaming at their official site.

New Music This Week: It’s not just Miley and Thunderbitch with new albums out — we’ve got some cool ones for you.